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Knowlton Township Committee Declines to Fill Vacancy

September 11, 2026

Three committee members sitting at a table on a dais. — Committee members Matt Baley, Debra Shipps and Adele Starrs consider filling a vacancy on the governing body. Photo by Joe Phalon.

A previous version of this article incorrectly referenced John Stock. The nominee’s name is John Stockton. The article has been updated to reflect this information.

The Knowlton Township Committee chose to leave a seat unfilled rather than appoint the candidate forwarded by the local Republican County Committee until a special election in November to fill the remainder of the vacated term.

Two of the four members of the all-GOP governing body declined to support John Stockton, who was nominated by the County Committee for the seat vacated by former Township Committeeman Ryan Lembeck, who was formally removed in August by a 4-0 vote for excessive meeting absences.

The appointment required a majority of the Township Committee, in this case a minimum of three votes. Without the support of Committee members Debra Shipps and Adele Starrs, the resolution to fill the vacant seat failed.

Because Lembeck was a Republican, the seat—if filled—would remain in GOP hands with the local Republican organization submitting up to three names for the Township Committee to choose from.

None of the names put forth—with Stockton at the top—were among the names Shipps and Starrs preferred. Shipps was particularly concerned that she had never seen Stockton at a Township Committee meeting during the decade she has served on it. Shipps also noted that Stockton had not returned a phone call she made to him to introduce herself.

“I’ll be honest, I could be wrong, but I’ve met you for five seconds at Tunnel Field,” Shipps said. “I’ve never seen you in a township meeting. What is your platform for Knowlton Township?”

Stockton suggested that his having not attended Township Committee meetings in the past could mean he’d have an open mind.

“I don’t attend the meetings because, frankly, I really didn’t have much to bring to the meetings,” Stockton said. “So, I think maybe you can look at that in two ways. Maybe it’s good I didn’t go to those meetings. Would that be possible? I have no agenda to come here and push for anything. I’m kind of an open book.”

John Stockton answers questions from the Knowlton Township Committee. Photo by Joe Phalon.

Shipps made no secret that her choice to fill the vacancy was Vince Gaeta, who she said has served on a number of committees and boards in Knowlton and has been a long-time regular at Township Committee meetings.

Baley and Mazza both supported appointing Stockton to the seat so the Township Committee could operate at its full complement of five, which would allow the governing body to avoid tie votes, which, ironically, happened in this case.

“At the last meeting, we did have residents here stating their concerns for a four-person board,” Baley said. “And here we are in that situation, basically, right? I would really like to move forward, if we could.”

Starrs said she was in agreement with Baley on moving ahead, but pointed out that the committee has essentially operated as a four-person board for most of 2026 already and that there had been no stalemates on decisions.

“I agree with you, Matt,” Starrs said. “We do need to move forward, and you’re 100 percent right, but you know what? We are nine months in, and we basically ran a four-person committee. We did an OK job.”

Stockton is likely to take a seat on the Township Committee as his name has also been submitted by the Republican Committee to fill out the remaining two years of Lembeck’s term in the November election. While he could face a Democrat in the election, a Democrat has not been elected to office in Knowlton since at least the 1990s.

Joe Phalon, Contributing Writer

Contributing Writer

Joe brings decades of journalism experience to the Ridge View Echo, covering everything from local school boards to the U.S. Supreme Court. A former National Law Journal editor and Columbia Law School press officer, he now enjoys telling community stories in Blairstown, where he lives with his wife, Rose, and their two dachshunds.